Chapter 16 - Sixteen Local Men Shot to Death for "Blue-Balling" Armed Florida Man
Should he follow her?
Was this a deliberate trap?
Felix broke into a sweat as the realization hit him. He turned to look at Adam and Roland. Those men had pulled a fast one on him! Fortunately, they, along with Jane, weren't trying to kill him. They were just overly paranoid, like Felix.
Unable to sit still any longer, Felix got up to clear up the misunderstanding with the family. Just as he was about to approach them, Jane stepped in front of him and unbuttoned her upper garment, revealing her cleavage and nipples.
"My lord, we haven't finished what we started in the carriage. How about we go somewhere private while they're having lunch?"
Felix narrowed his eyes and glanced at Roland and Adam, concerned for their safety.
<I detect no threatening creatures in this vicinity.>
Jessica's affirmation brought Felix some relief, but he still had concerns.
'What about the potential for other hidden colleagues or ambushers?'
<I detect 20 human life signatures northwest of here.>
Jessica indicated the area Jane planned to lead Felix to.
Despite the doubts and suspicions, Felix followed Jessica as he had already prepared for anything. One hundred meters deep into the woods, Jessica stopped, turned around, and dropped her clothes and hidden weapons, revealing her perfect assets.
"Come get your compensation, my lord."
Felix gulped, almost forgot about his purposes. He glanced at the radar map to avert his eyes.
The 20 red dots were only 200 meters away. Thus, committing adultery here would be foolish. Despite the temptation, Felix turned away from Jane and walked toward the approaching hostile forces, pulling out the FN SCAR 16s and preparing for combat.
"My lord?" Jane witnessed Felix summoning a strange object out of thin air. She gazed at the assault rifle in shock.
Ignoring Jane's reaction, Felix aimed in the general direction of the hostile entities. Although tall grasses and bushes blocked his vision, he stood firm, glancing at the mini-map HUD screen.
This reminded him of Vietnam War movies. He finally understood how it felt to fight invisible enemies.
Exhaling all the air from his lungs, Felix held his breath and pulled the trigger once.
*BANG*
The gunshot startled Jane. She pulled out a hidden knife and threw needles from the cloth pile, taking five steps backward. Confused, she shouted at Felix.
"What was that?!"
Felix deeply inhaled and counted the red dots on the map. There were still 20 blinking spots. Five seconds later, they dropped to 19.
Bullseye!
Felix raised his eyebrows, amused. He had randomly fired toward the densest group, aiming at the general chest area, but didn't expect to score a kill so quickly. As for the target's movements, they stopped advancing forward but gathered in a circle formation.
With ammo to splurge, Felix licked his lips, crouched behind tall grasses, and adjusted his aim. He prayed and sprayed!
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Since the semi-auto FN SCAR 16s didn't feature an automatic mode, Felix repeatedly pulled and released the trigger to rapid-fire.
"AAAAHHHH!!"
A loud scream confirmed a hit. Jane heard it and understood the situation. She put on her clothes, kicked off the ground, grabbed a tree branch, and like an expert parkour athlete, swung through the air and charged toward the targets.
Felix cursed her under his breath.
'Idiot! You're going to get into trouble! Why can't you wait here and let me deal with them?!'
Providing Jane with covering fire, Felix kept spraying bullets. He blasted 24 more rounds through bushes and tall grasses toward the general area.
*CLANK*
Felix fired the last cartridge in his magazine. He reloaded, charged the bolt, and glanced at the map. Only 14 red dots remained.
Felix expected the unknown enemies to be panicked or crippled, so he decided to get a better view to properly remove the targets. Walking out of his hiding spot, he pushed through the tall grasses. Emerging from the bushes, he found an animal trail leading straight ahead.
One hundred fifty meters away, a group of red-clothed men in chainmail armor stood in a wall formation, raising their wooden shields and facing Felix. From their reactions, Felix guessed they had already figured out the direction of the attacks. Their uniform also identified them as soldiers from Aero Academy City.
But why were they hostile? Why were they trying to harm him?
Felix thought of Roland and his family, wondering if they were the real targets. Since Jessica marked them as hostile, there was no reason to negotiate. Felix adjusted his aim and scope, locking onto a soldier's face.
*BANG*
The bullet flew straight to the man's forehead, downing him.
"MAAAAAGE!!"
One of the soldiers saw Felix and shouted. The rest were alarmed. Behind the shield wall formation, three archers nocked their bows and aimed at Felix.
*WHOOSH*
Five flying needles whistled through the air from their right, piercing the necks of two archers. One archer got lucky, using his friends as meat shields.
Unaware of the needle thrower, the archer released his arrow.
"FUCK!"
Felix saw the arrow leave his scope's vision. He dropped to the ground as he had been trained. The arrow whistled past and landed a meter behind Felix's feet. Had he stayed in his previous position, it would have hit him in the face.
Adrenaline surged through Felix. Blood rushed to his head, causing him to unleash hell.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Felix unleashed a barrage of bullets. Powerful projectiles punctured through wooden shields and chainmail, tearing into flesh and vital organs. Five shield bearers collapsed. The rest broke formation and charged at Felix, brandishing their swords.
"KILL THE MAGE FIRST!"
"THERE'S ANOTHER ASSASSIN IN THE TREES!"
Chaotic shouts filled the air, but Felix no longer listened.
Seeing the rushing soldiers, Felix pushed himself up. With his assault rifle running low on ammo, he switched to a shotgun. Holding the bulky weapon, Felix pulled the trigger, aiming at the closest swordsman.
*BANG*
A slug shot blasted through the stomach of a charging soldier, knocking him backward.
Felix wasn't trained to kite his enemies like a character in an FPS game. He stood his ground, unloading shells at every approaching soldier.
*BANG* *BANG*
After dropping two more swordsmen, one survivor caught up to Felix and swung his sword. Felix stepped back, dodging the swing by a hairbreadth. The swordsman controlled the pommel and changed into a thrust stance, lunging forward.
As if a helldiver's spirit possessed him, Felix dove backward while he aimed at the assailant.
*BANG*
The slug shot hit the swordsman's head, exploding it like a watermelon. He collapsed on his own broadsword.
After downing the soldier, Felix glanced at the map as he forgot to count the kills.
How many were left?
There were 14 before, then 13, then 11…
He took out five next…
What about the ones killed by the shotgun? Felix counted four. There should be two left.
The map showed one red dot and a green dot. Their locations overlapped. A second later, the red dot vanished, leaving the blinking green dot of an ally.
'That must be Jane.'
Felix was relieved. He entered the woods to find the assassin girl.
Chapter 17 - Florida Man Rescues Dying Maiden and Demands Her Body as Compensation
Strangely, the green dot stopped moving, which raised Felix's concerns. He wondered if she had suffered a serious injury during the fight.
Was she alright?
Was she injured?
Was she just resting?
Felix felt bad leaving her alone. He rushed toward Jane's location.
Upon arrival, Felix's expression turned dark as what he feared became reality - Jane was lying in a pool of blood with two arrows in her chest. Her maid uniform was painted in red.
Two men that Felix had missed earlier were archers. One had a long needle in his eye, which didn't seem fatal. However, his purple skin and bulging black blood vessels were the clues of the dying cause - Poison. As for another archer, he had a throwing dagger stuck in his neck.
Felix rushed to her side and fetched his two lesser healing potions from his inventory. Checking her pulse, he touched her neck with two fingers.
There were pulses, and she was still breathing.
As it was an emergency, Felix ripped her clothes, revealing the wound in her chest. Blood still leaked out nonstop even though the arrowheads were still stuck inside.
Treating the wound, Felix opened the lid of a healing potion's vial and poured the contents into the chest wound. After emptying the container, he opened another one and pried open Jane's mouth.
Jane slightly opened her eyes when Felix grabbed her face. She expected a romantic kiss-feeding. However, as Felix was not in the mood, he shoved the glass vial into her mouth and let the liquid pour down her throat.
The rough method made Jane choke. She coughed as some of the liquid got into her respiratory system. However, the liquid was quickly absorbed into the body, and a miracle occurred.
The wounds stopped bleeding. Some small cuts were instantly healed, and small scars vanished. Two arrowheads were ejected from her chest.
Unfortunately, the wounds were still there, and they could potentially reopen.
As Felix was not a doctor, he relied on vague knowledge he learned from random YouTube videos. Fetching the first aid kit from his supply crate, he unpacked a bottle of alcohol and a piece of clean cloth. Soaking the cloth with alcohol, he roughly dressed the wound.
Tossing the cloth away, Felix took the sature kit next and began sewing the detached fleshes.
…
Minutes later, Felix wiped the sweat off Jane's face and wiped his face. Being inexperienced in this field, the knots looked messy.
Finishing the job, Felix bandaged Jane's chest. Then, he sat next to her, letting out a long sigh.
"What a mess."
Putting his tools back in the used supply crate, he stored everything back in his inventory.
Jane weakly smiled at Felix and touched his arms, expressing her gratitude.
"Thank you… my lord."
"Rest, you fool," Felix swiped her wet hair away from her face. Frustrated, irritated, relieved, and mentally exhausted, he uttered without thinking, "I'll claim the compensation when you recover. Prepare yourself."
Jane lightly snickered. She wanted to laugh, but it hurt her chest, "I'm looking forward to it."
After ensuring that Jane's condition was stable, he thought about moving the patient to the carriage.
Being helpless, Felix looked at Jessica, asking her advice.
'What's next? How do I transport her? Is there anything I can do?'
Jessica dully stared at Jane, scanning her condition.
<She is already out of danger. However, if you wish to fully heal her and replenish her stamina, you need a medium-grade potion. However, it costs 1,000 mana in the store.>
Felix regained some hope. He tried negotiating, "Can a minor-grade or something better than a lesser potion save her?"
<A minor healing potion can instantly heal slightly deep wounds and restore a small amount of blood. It will cost you 500 mana.>
Not having enough mana, Felix thought of the stalagmite crystals that he had gotten from the cave.
Should he bother sacrificing the rare crystals and spending 500 mana to completely heal her?
The Karen side of Felix screamed "No" without hesitation. On the other hand, his angelic side already raised a banner in his mind realm, wavering a Chad meme image with a caption - "Saving lives is never too expensive!"
After a deep contemplation, Felix made a decision.
The answer was "No."
She was not in danger. Why the hell should he spend his precious mana to completely heal a stranger? Furthermore, those precious stalagmite crystals were for upgrades, not for mana conversion!
"Can you walk?" Distracting himself from random thoughts, Felix initiated a conversation with Jane.
"Probably… not. I can't move my knees."
"…"
Felix looked at her legs. They looked fine.
'Trauma? Maybe.'
He shrugged and scooped her from below, princess-carrying her. She was slightly on the heavy side because of her firm muscles, but Felix didn't complain. His max deadlift weight was 260lb, so carrying a slightly muscular woman was not an issue.
Jane blushed, but she smiled, enjoying the rare privilege.
…
Carrying Jane back to the carriage, Felix walked straight to Adam and Roland. Adam, abandoning the disguise and facade, was the first to rush to his aid, helping Felix bring Jane to the carriage.
Adam panicked when he saw the bandages, worrying about her daughter, "What happened to her?!"
"She was shot. I gave her some potions, but she still needs treatment."
"Shot?!" Adam gasped and cried, "By whom?!"
"I don't know. They wear red uniforms and chainmail. Ring a bell?" Felix shrugged as he didn't care.
Hearing the vague description, Adam shed a tear, "I told her not to overdo it! She always returned home with some wounds when the young master was alive. Now, you've done it again!"
Hearing Adam's complaints, Felix felt like this was not her first time getting injured. He brought her to the carriage and laid her down inside.
Valley, who had been silent for the whole trip, noticed the injured woman and started crying, "Jane! Jane! What happened to you?!"
The lord sat there, gazing at his subordinates in silence. As for Mary, she seemed to be used to it.
"I'll take it from here. Adam, could you help me bring some hot water?" Mary calmly ordered Adam, who brought a pot full of drinking to start boiling it.
Mary inspected Jane's condition and realized that the wounds had been healed. She let out a sigh of relief. Still, she removed the bandages to inspect the wounds, but they were already stitched.
"Never mind. Adam, bring me some clean water. She must have lost a lot of blood."
Adam looked perplexed. He staggered with a cripple leg to the campsite and boil a pot of water anyway.
Mary reapplied the bandages and nodded at Felix, who nodded back. She closed the carriage door and proceeded to change Jane's torn clothes, inspecting her body and checking other wounds.
As the real butler and the women got busy, Felix and Roland were idle. The latter deeply sighed and gazed at Felix.
"Sir, you've helped us a lot. You even addressed her wounds."
Felix shrugged, "It's my job. I'm your escort."
"…Thank you."
"Anyway," Felix changed the topic, "How about we stop with this little facade and be honest with each other. What the hell is going on with you and your family?"
Roland deeply inhaled and faced Felix properly. He placed his hand on his chest and bowed.
"We're deeply sorry. We did it for self-protection."
"…I know."
Roland raised his head and reintroduced himself, "I am Roland Lundop, the Baron of Terra City. I… am also a 2-circle mage specialized in appraisal and detection spells."
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